Your search “Keep the Death Penalty Abolished fin the Philippfines ”

Despite its national and international commitment not to carry out any executions, Philippines is taking worrying measures toward the reinstatement of the death penalty for drug offenses. Determined to thwart the government’s plan, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines has taken various actions, including an awareness campaign for the 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty.

The 62nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the African Union body responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa, was held from April 25th to May 9th, 2018 in Nouakchott, Mauritania.The death penalty was at the heart of the debates throughout this Session, during panel discussions, side-events or during the review of the State’s periodic reports.

The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network, which was founded on 10 October 2006, is again taking action this World Day Against the Death Penalty and takes stock on 10 years of progress in Asia – and on the challenges ahead.

On 30 May 2019, the NH state Senate voted to override the governor’s veto. The death penalty repeal took effect immediately.

The Community of Sant’Egidio conducted a crucial political networking exercise in favour of abolition in Rome at the end of November before 1,600 cities lit up their monuments against the death penalty.

Through engagement with members of Parliament, the publication of an unprecedented report on death row conditions and the launch of a new website, the Moroccan abolitionist movement is entering a new dimension.

Earlier in November, the UN Human Rights Committee released its concluding observations on Iraq’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee and civil society’s representatives specifically dwelled on Iraq’s application of the death penalty.

A new, authoritative study sheds a new light on capital punishment across Asia and may help abolitionists enhance their strategies.

The new Kazakh Penal Code provides for an increase in the number of capital crimes, even though Kazakhstan has been moving away from the death penalty for years and has a stated policy of meeting international standards.

The World Coalition was invited to take part in the 6th international Conference on Human Rights, on February 22nd, 2017 in Beirut. addressing the very worrying situation in Bahrain, the event resulted in a series of calls and recommendations.

The undersigned organizations are gravely concerned at the recent announcement by the military authorities of Myanmar that the death sentences imposed on four people after grossly unfair proceedings have been approved for implementation.

On 23 April 2024 the Constitutional Court of Taiwan will hear a challenge on the constitutionality of the death penalty in the country. Amnesty International Taiwan and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty are among several non-governmental organizations intervening in the case, in support of the full abolition of the death penalty.

As 26 June is “Support. Don’t Punish” Global Day of Action, the World Coalition shares some insight on the 2019 Harm Reduction International Conference which took place in Porto end of April.

The 9th annual report by Iran Human Rights (IHR)and ECPM (Ensemble contre la peine de mort) on the death penalty in Iran shows that in 2016 at least 530 people were executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although this number is significantly lower than the annual execution numbers from the past five years, Iran remained the country with the highest number of executions per capita.

The 18th World Day Against the Death Penalty explored the theme “Access to Counsel: A Matter of Life or Death” in light of the continued execution of individuals who struggle to have adequate support from their lawyers, who consequently also face their own challenges in the judicial system. Having access to qualified and effective representation […]

The first Nigerien abolitionists’ forum on the death penalty was held in Niamey on November 4 and 5, 2016. The NGO Réseau progrès et développement humanitaire du Niger (REPRODEVH-NIGER) and the Nigerien Coalition Against the Death Penalty organised the event, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, the National Commission on Human Rights and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The initiative met with great success.

The World Coalition held its 2014 AGM in abolitionist Puerto Rico and highlighted key regional developments in the fight against the death penalty, which remains on the books of many countries in the Greater Caribbean.

After putting the death penalty at the heart of discussion, the 36th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council ended with the adoption of a resolution on the death penalty.

A privileged moment to exchange on the different abolitionist dynamics in Africa As part of the Africabolition project, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) and FIACAT (the International Federation of ACATS) organized a seminar for English-speaking African members from 19-26 June, 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Since 2007, October 10 is also the European Day Against the Death Penalty. Numerous European politicians have chosen this day to state their opposition to capital punishment.

On October 26, abolitionists all around the world celebrated the release of Cheng Hsing-Tse, originally sentenced to death in 2006. This successful outcome highlights the work of numerous organizationss which assist death row survivors.

Jose Medellin, a Mexican sentenced to death in Texas, was executed on August 5 despite serious flaws in his trial. The Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty denounces an “irrevocable breach of international law”.

Concerned by the population’s view on the death penalty, the Human Rights Defenders and Abolitionist Advocates in Democratic Republic of the Congo Network [Réseau des associations de défense des droits de l’homme et militants abolitionnistes de la peine de mort en République Démocratique du Congo (RADHOMA)] organized several training courses for journalists in the past few months.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty takes the opportunity to support the call of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Summary Executions and on Torture, for the establishment of a federal moratorium on the death penalty.

Teng Biao is one of the rare activists who call for the immediate abolition of the death penalty from within China. In the past weeks, the police confiscated his passport and he received threats.

From January until August 2019, Iraq executed more than 100 individuals accused of being affiliated with Daesh, according to Kurdish media network Rudaw.

A detailed opinion survey commissioned by the Death Penalty Project in Malaysia found that while most people initially respond supportively when asked about mandatory death sentences, their opinion changes when confronted with practical cases and additional information.

Against the background of the drafting of a new Constitution in Burkina Faso including an article on the abolition of the death penalty, ECPM, the FIACAT and the Burkinabé Parliament have organised a regional parliamentary seminar in Ouagadougou on the death penalty in French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The last known execution in Burkina Faso dates back to 1988, making it an abolitionist country in practice.

The 51st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) was held in Banjul from April 18 to May 2, 2012. During the session, the Commission presented its “Study on the question of the death penalty in Africa” prepared by the Working Group on the death penalty of the ACHPR.

The number one executioner in the world recently made national and international commitments to continuing to reform its death penalty, but how far is China really ready to go?

In December 2017, two Kenyan men challenged the legality of capital punishment at the Supreme Court, which resulted in Chief Justice Marage declaring the « mandatory nature of the death sentence » unconstitutional. Following this groundbreaking statement, the Taskforce on the Review of the Mandatory Nature of the Death Penalty was appointed on March 15 2018.

United States Federal District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, a strong supporter of the death penalty, ruled on 16 July that California’s death penalty system violates the US Constitution.

On 22 October 2023, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) organized a closed-door side event on a gender-based and intersectional approach to abolition as part of the 86th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The ACHPR (the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) met virtually for its 68th Ordinary Session from 14 April – 4 May 2021.

At the end of October, the civil society gathered for the NGO Forum preceding the 59th African Commission for Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR): an occasion to put the death penalty on the agenda of the African Commission and to make the calls for the abolition heard. Nonetheless, difficulties on the path towards the abolition in the African continent remain.

For October 10, many NGOs have published Reports analyzing, from different perspectives, the issue of the death penalty for drug offences. Read this brief presentation of the reports to facilitate the selection of the research that will best satisfy your thirst for knowledge.

On 30 June 2018, as a side event to the 2nd National Congress of Réseau des avocats contre la peine mort (RACPM), a conference was organised under the title “Death Penalty and Criminal Policy”. Morocco seemed eager to match its Tunisian neighbour, which had recently proposed, with the Commission on Individual Freedoms and Equality, abolishing the death penalty.

A conference organized by Journey of Hope is just one among the many activities carried out around World Day against the Death Penalty in the U.S.

The World Coalition requires travel management services, on a non-exclusive basis, for World Coalition staff, members and partners.

After a House committee passed a bill abolishing capital punishment on 11 February, State representative Renny Cushing explains the next steps as the World Coalition’s Steering Committee prepares to meet in New Hampshire in April.

As the 36th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was being held under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council from 02 to 13 November, the Advocates for Human Rights, a member organization of the World Coalition, facilitated Facebook live debriefings to cover the review of States that have not yet abolished capital […]

Tsou Tzung Han is a Taiwanese teacher who actively took part in educational activities organised around World Day Against the Death Penalty. He writes about his experience with his students.

As night fell, Xu Ziqiang and Zheng Xingze boarded a plane for Dubai together with a group of TAEDP members. Belgium was their final destination following this layover. This would be Ziqian’s and Xingze’s first time on European soil; they were preparing to take part in the World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held once every three years.

Joint statement on the situation of the death penalty in Africa for the 71st Ordinary Session of the African Commission, signed by the FIACAT, ECPM and the World coalition. 

International organizations joined the 13th World Day Against the Death Penalty to stand against this cruel practice. United Nations, the European Union and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights merged to claim that capital punishment is not the solution to deter drug crimes.

The Closing Ceremony of the 8th World Congress celebrated people who play an immense role in the process of the abolition of the death penalty, with an awards ceremony and a tribute. 

On 26 June, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is marking World Drugs Day with the theme “People first: stop stigma and discrimination, strengthen prevention”, and launched another edition of the World Drug Report. Sadly, as has been the case over the years, UNODC has failed to raise concerns over the continued use […]

To obtain a global view of existing data on women sentenced to death, the World Coalition carried out a systematization exercise of new data, compiled in a report published in August 2023.

The Great Lakes Regional Coalition Against the Death Penalty held its first meeting on November 17 in Kinshasa. Its lobbying efforts have accelerated Burundi’s legislative process.

20 years after the end of the dictatorship, Indonesia is going through a period of legal changes and transition. What impact can abolitionist associations and NGOs working on the ground have in encouraging the actions of legal counsellors and civil society?

On 27 March, a US federal appeals court overturned Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence, but not his conviction for murder. His lead counsel Robert R. Bryan gives his reaction to the ruling and the next steps in America’s most high-profile capital case.

Marc Bossuyt was UN Special Rapporteur for drawing up the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He is now president of Belgium’s Constitutional Court.

The Death Penalty in India: Annual Statistics, an annual report published in January 2020 by Project 39A, details the application of the death penalty in India during the year 2019. It also describes developments in criminal justice and policy in the country.

The 22 and 23 June 2018, the Greater Caribbean for Life, the Death Penalty Project, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights Association, the University of the West Indies and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty met in Barbados to launch their joint three year project in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

The International Studies Programme Overseas Relations Assembly and the Institute for Human Rights Research and Promotion (INIPRODEH) organised a forum: The Death Penalty and Poverty on the 89th anniversary of abolition of the death penalty in Puerto Rico. Eminent figures from the abolitionist movement and academia reviewed and analysed research into this issue.

This Tuesday, on February 2, 2021, the Council of Paris will announce its position on the renewal of the yearly €500,000 subvention allocated to the Paris FC.

The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights and Harm Reduction International, and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty along with 32 other NGOs have called on the International Narcotics Control Board and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to act on urgent measures in response to the series of drug-related executions carried […]

The Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is an international covenant adopted in 1989 by the United Nations General Assembly. It aims to abolish the death penalty definitively.

On Tuesday March 21, the Ugandan parliament passed a law that severely criminalizes people who have consensual same-sex relations. At the end of April, the law had still not been validated by the President Museveni. Among a range of harsh penalties, the law would allow the death penalty for the crime of « aggravated homosexuality […]

Nine international organisations are calling upon the Philippines to uphold its international obligations and not to restore death penalty in the country.

As a prominent leader in the campaign against death penalty in the South East Asia region for the last decade, Philippines’ reputation is endangered with President Duterte’s determination to reintroduce death penalty in the country. The country’s legislators are now on its second attempt to pass the bills.

Member organizations of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty and African ACATs (Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture) met in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) for the capitalization workshop of Phase 2 of the project for the abolition of the death penalty in sub-Saharan Africa, organized on 29 and 30 November by the World […]

An abolitionist wave of marches, cultural happenings, petition signings and educational events swept across the world for the 7th World Day on October 10.

On April 25, 2022, the Burundian Prison Observatory (BPO) organized a one-day advocacy workshop on the ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (OP2-ICCPR) with the support of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

Asia has the highest number of retentionist countries in the world. Eight members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) retain the death penalty and four of them carried out executions in 2015.

The 12th World Day Against the Death Penalty was marked by hundreds of actions on all continents, in the media and online.

The fragile victories of the abolitionist movement are being undermined by several states ready to resume the use of the death penalty, at the cost of abuses.

At its 56th ordinary session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) put the abolition of the death penalty at the heart of its debates and adopted a draft regional treaty to help African Union member states move away from capital punishment.

Jamaican lawmakers voted to keep capital punishment and the government seems determined to use it. Caribbean abolitionists are battling similar moves across the region.

World Coalition members and a man who spent 18 years on death row for murders he did not commit joined UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for a debate on capital punishment.

UPDATE: The Bill on the death penalty has not been discussed in plenary session at the House of Representatives in December. The House is now in recess until 16 January 2017.

We, the 70 undersigned organizations and individuals, express serious concern over the rapid efforts by members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines to adopt a bill restoring the death penalty in the country.

We, the 37 undersigned groups and organisations, and three individuals, are appalled by Singapore’s denial and response to the highlighting of alleged “barbaric” unlawful practices in execution method that was highlighted vide a Jan 16 media statement issued by Lawyers for Liberty (LFL).get to many more people when media reports on our statements.

This 10th October, the World Coalition will celebrate the 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty, which is focused on the rights of children whose parents are sentenced to death or executed. In time for the 30th anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November, this year’s theme serves as a reminder that the death penalty constitutes a widespread violation of human rights, impacting even those unseen victims. Let’s look back at how this theme was discussed and addressed during the 7th World Congress.

The World Coalition and its members are present at every step in the international human rights law process – from the signature of human rights treaties to the verification of their implementation. Their contribution is yielding more and more concrete results.

Governor Pat Quinn’s signing abolition into law last week in Illinois has reopened the debate on the death penalty throughout the country. Several states are currently considering abolition.

Through this joint statement twenty one national and international NGOs, calls upon Mauritanian authorities to reverse the recent adoption of a law on apostasy related crimes making the death penalty mandatory for blasphemy.

The letter, co-signed by 58 organizations, encourages the President of Sri Lanka to do everything in his power to stop executions in Sri Lanka and consign the death penalty to the history books.

Kinshasa, Paris, May 27, 2021 Our organizations denounce the recent death sentences handed down by the High Court of Gombe, in the center of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, following violence against the forces of order.

Denys Robiliard, a lawyer and former president of Amnesty International’s French section, details why the Second Optional protocol to the UN’s ICCPR is an crucial instrument to push the abolition of the death penalty worldwide.

The meeting of the World Coalition Steering Committee on 12 and 13 April 2013 in Taipei, attended by twenty people, was tarnished the same week by the execution of six prisoners sentenced to death, even though high-level assurances had been given by the State with regard to reducing such barbarous acts.

In an open letter, the World Coalition and its members, including KONTRAS and Amnesty International, condemn the Indonesian government’s politicizing of the death penalty to show its commitment to eradicating drug-related crimes. Recent resumptions of executions show one thing, they are carried out for political reasons only: in Pakistan to show that it is tough on terrorism, Jordan that it tough on crime and Indonesia that it is tough on drugs. Instead, those states should abolish the death penalty to show their commitment to upholding human rights. The next World Day against the Death Penalty will be dedicated to the issue of capital drug crimes.

This 8th annual report (released by Iran Human Rights and Ensemble contre la peine de mort) deals with the number of executions, the trend compared to previous years, the charges, the geographic distribution, as well as the monthly breakdown of the executions in Iran in 2015. These two organizations have been collaborating since 2011, in order to provide annual assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in Iran. The 2015 report is the result of hard work from IHR members and supporters who took part in the documenting, analyzing and writing of its content.

On 18 March 2019, the State of Palestine acceded to the United Nations Treaty aiming to abolish the death penalty, becoming the 87th State Party to the OP2-PIDCP.

Today the overwhelming majority of UN member states once again threw their weight behind a UN General Assembly draft resolution to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. 115 of the UN’s 193 member states voted in favour of the proposal, with only 38 voting against it. The draft will now go before the UN General Assembly plenary for final adoption.

ECPM and CPJ published a report in December 2019 following a fact-finding mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that took place earlier in the year. The results of the mission were astonishing – while the number of individuals sentenced to death was previously estimated to be 300 at most, the mission uncovered that there are at least 510 waiting execution. Liévin Ngondji, co-author of the report and President of CPJ, was in Paris in February 2020 to comment. Photo on the cover of the Report : 22 Oct 2015. Prison Centrale Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo copyright Ben Houdjik/ Shutterstock

Representatives from 56 abolitionist and retentionist countries attended the opening session of the World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Geneva.

As the legal action taken by local activists to block the use of the death penalty failed, abolitionists across Asia have been calling for an end to the death penalty in their region.

The Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL), an independent, not-for-profit regional civil society organization working towards the abolition of the Death Penalty in the region, rejects the recommendation for the resumption of the death penalty.

On August 13, 2017, the Iranian parliament finally approved an amendment aiming at raising the bar for a mandatory death sentence in cases involving drug related offenses. Despite this first step, abolitionists deplore the limited effect of this new legislation.

What if abolitionists were able to begin their next appeal, with a sentence to this effect: “A majority of countries has formally ratified a United Nations treaty permanently banning the death penalty.”

World Coalition member organisation Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights held public events and meetings with victims and leaders during a recent tour of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Several hundred activists, experts and political leaders met in Beirut at the end of January to push the abolitionist cause with the Lebanese authorities and organise their movement at the national level.

Thai human rights activists led by the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) organised a series of seminars with religious leaders to raise their awareness and discuss their perspectives on abolition.

The 31st Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice of the ODC took place in Vienna from the 16th to the 20th of May 2022. At this occasion, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations organized a side-event: “Abolishing the Death Penalty: Public Opinion and the Road to Abolition”, which was held online […]

The Regional Congress on the Death Penalty held in Rabat, Morocco between 18-20 October highlighted the key role of civil society in pushing the abolitionist agenda in a region affected by deep changes.

Four Singapore-based organisations denounce the high risk of miscarriage of justice in recent death sentences handed down on poor immigrants and calls for the abolition of the death penalty in the city-state.

A bill which aimed to facilitate executions in the Caribbean nation was defeated in Parliament on February 28.

Time and time again, abolitionists have been making the case against the death penalty, highlighting how inhumane, inefficient and unfair it is.

The UN body in charge of defending and promoting human rights has devoted a large part of its 22nd session to discussing capital punishment and its abolition, and vowed to continue at its next meetings.